How we can help you

Charging for pre-application archaeological advice has been introduced by Winchester City Council in order to assist with its operational costs. The charges are for our expertise in providing advice and in quality controlling archaeological work to ensure compliance with national and local planning policy. The charges also apply to any developments which fall outside local planning authority decision making such as utility pipelines, cables and national infrastructure projects as well as Woodland Creation Schemes. Charges also apply to all permitted development. There are no charges for most community led projects.

This service is for anyone looking for advice about archaeology and development proposals of any scale. It is best to consider potential archaeological implications of development proposals at an early stage in order to manage risk and provide appropriate information to accompany planning proposals.

We can offer specialist advise on whether a site or development proposal is likely to have archaeological issues, review reports and WSIs (Written Scheme’s of Investigation), undertake site visits and discuss proposals and mitigation strategies, including enhancement and public value opportunities on developments.  

These services relate only to archaeological advice from the Council’s Archaeologist and do not address any other planning issues. Where a pre-application has been made to the Council’s Planning Dept. initial archaeology advice will be included therein and you may subsequently be directed to this specialist archaeology pre-application service

All charges and fees will be reviewed annually.

 

What you need to do:  

You will need to complete a simple online application form, to initiate the work, selecting the most appropriate level of pre-application service and make an advance online payment (details of payment methods are included in the form).  

Please Contact Us if you are in any doubt as to which level of service you need. If more detailed information is required or the level of work is more than has been selected and paid for you may be required to submit a further enquiry and payment.  

Before you submit the form LINK please ensure that:

• you have read our archaeology planning page Archaeology and Planning - Winchester City Council
• you and have and understood our Privacy Notice Development Management Privacy Notice - Winchester City Council
• you have read and understood the charges and have selected the correct service required
• you complete all questions shown with an asterisk (*)
• If you do not have an account with us, please sign in as a GUEST bottom left on sign in screen, on form.

Standard archaeology pre-application service (up to 2 hours)

Services may include:

• desk-based research
• checking and review of a WSI / report
• a meeting (WCC offices or online)
• formal written advice

Charge: £240.00 (inc. VAT)

• Where a site visit, monitoring visit, additional meeting time or review of further documentation is required we recommend using our Enhanced archaeology pre-application service or for complex or large-scale schemes our Complex archaeology pre-application service.

Enhanced archaeology pre-application service (up to 5 hours)

Services may include:

• desk-based research
• checking and review of WSIs / reports
• a meeting(s) (WCC offices or online)
• a site visit(s)
• formal written advice

Charge: £590.00 (incl. VAT)

Complex archaeology pre-application service (up to 10 hours) 

For large scale or complex schemes. Service may include:

• desk-based research
• checking and review of WSIs / reports
• a meeting(s) (at WCC offices or online)
• a site visit(s)
• formal written advice
• additional time available in 5 or 10 hour blocks of time (additional fees to be paid in advance)

• Charge: £1200.00 (incl. VAT)

Commercial Enquires for the Historic Environment Records:

 The Winchester Historic Environment Record - Winchester City Council

In many cases where there may be significant archaeology present, particularly within the historic city of Winchester, you will need to employ professional archaeological assistance.

The historic city of Winchester is complex, requiring a sound understanding of multi-phase urban stratigraphy and waterlogged deposits. Although we are unable to provide a list of approved archaeological organisations, we recommend the list of Registered Organisations maintained by the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (a link is provided on the right hand side of the page.

We suggest that you check whether potential archaeologists have experience in dealing with complex urban deposits, ideally within Winchester itself and a track record in bringing such projects to a successful completion, including where required publication. 

Although we provide advice and assistance on how to employ a qualified and experienced archaeological organisation, any appointment is made at your discretion and at your own risk.

When you submit a planning application, we will assess the impact the proposed development may have on archaeology and provide one of the following recommendations:

• No objection
• Request more information or archaeological work
• Refusal

Where we ask you for more information to assess the archaeological impact you will need to commission an archaeologist to carry out the work before the application can be determined. This work may comprise a desk-based assessment or field evaluation (see the pre-application advice section above).

Our advice will then depend on whether archaeological remains will be affected by your proposed development and the importance of these remains. If they are of national importance the application may be refused, however it may be possible to accommodate archaeology in the design of the development.

Your planning permission may include conditions requiring you to undertake archaeological work, either before you start, or during the development. This may comprise one of more of the following:  

• excavation and recording – this is undertaken ahead of the development, providing a lasting record of archaeological remains which would be otherwise destroyed by the development

• Watching Brief –the recording of archaeological evidence during the  course of the development

• Building recording – to provide a lasting record of built structures that will be altered or destroyed by the development

• field evaluation – occasionally field evaluation may be carried out following the granting of planning permission, ahead of development, in order to determine whether any further archaeological work is required and what that might be

  

   

We can advise on the scope of the archaeological work, which will need to be agreed with the planning authority before you start the development. A Project Design or Written Scheme of Investigation written by a professional experienced archaeologist will need to be submitted for approval.

Conditions securing programmes of archaeological work are normally discharged upon completion of the on-site archaeological work, although sometimes a partial discharge is possible, prior to the completion of the archaeological work. See the main Planning Pages for further information on discharging conditions.

A separate condition normally secures reporting / publication of the results of the archaeological work. This comprises an unpublished report which is then use to update the Historic Environment Record. The report should be submitted the local planning authority as part of your discharge of conditions application.

Where extensive or significant archaeological remains are encountered, a programme of post-excavation assessment and analysis of the project findings may be required. This would result in the publication of the results of the work as an article in Hampshire Studies, the annual publication of the Hampshire Field Club. Occasionally publication may be in a national journal or, for large scale projects, as a book.  You can normally secure discharge of the reporting / publication condition following the completion of the analysis stage of the post-excavation programme and confirmation of the publication proposals.